Rumsfeld gets results from Ray Odierno!!
At one point in the much-discussed Rumsfeld memo, the Secretary of Defense asks: Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against ...
At one point in the much-discussed Rumsfeld memo, the Secretary of Defense asks:
At one point in the much-discussed Rumsfeld memo, the Secretary of Defense asks:
Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?
From the Associated Press:
The commander of the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division in Tikrit, Iraq, is measuring success in dollars. Major General Ray Odierno (oh-dee-EHR’-noh) says relentless pressure from coalition forces is making it more expensive for insurgents to fund attacks, and forcing them to change their tactics. He says when the Fourth Infantry arrived in Iraq, people were paid 100 dollars to attack coalition forces, and 500 dollars if they were successful. Now, he says attackers are demanding up to two-thousand dollars just to attack. Odierno says the price has gone up because fewer people are willing to attack U-S forces head on — afraid of taking a lot of casualties. He expects to see more roadside bombings and more attacks on civilian targets like the Red Cross, which was targeted today.
Thanks to Tom Holsinger & Trent Telenko for the link. UPDATE: Phil Carter and Kevin Drum are not as sanguine. Calpundit conclusion rings true:
The lesson he [Bush] needs to learn isn’t from 1992, it’s from 1968. The public didn’t turn against the Vietnam War because we lost the Tet Offensive — in fact, it was a considerable military victory — but because Tet made it obvious that our leaders had been lying about how much progress we were making. Americans may not mind a “long, hard slog,” but they do mind a president who seems willfully out of touch with reality. Bush and his advisors risk the same fate as LBJ unless they publicly acknowledge that the situation in Iraq is serious and then provide some sense that they have a realistic plan for turning things around. I don’t doubt that internally they understand this, but their happy talk PR campaign gives no sign of it, and they’re going to pay a price if they keep it up.
Alex Massie has further thoughts on the subject.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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